


A Briefing

by Jackolidus



Series: Justin and Justin [11]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Aliens, History, M/M, Outer Space, Sci-Fi, Sex Work, space, strange fruit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:27:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29492793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackolidus/pseuds/Jackolidus
Summary: This one is mostly dialogue. Prepare to get fucked up with the next chapter.
Relationships: Justin/Matt
Series: Justin and Justin [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2114421
Kudos: 1





	A Briefing

**Author's Note:**

> This one is mostly dialogue. Prepare to get fucked up with the next chapter.

In the end, Justin had been forced to let the guy cry in his arms for a while, until Matt eventually fell asleep. Justin felt so bad that he didn’t try to wake him up again, just kept trying to comfort his mate. 

But then Matt woke up and went to the kitchen, seeming much better than before. He instructed Justin to sit down at the bar and listen. “I’m going to make some food and you’re going to learn about how we do things around here.”

Justin watched Matt get something out of the fridge. “Okay.”

“On Peace, where we grew up, where we’re from, pretty much everybody has a mate.” Matt went to the sink and turned it on. “It’s not as straitlaced as Vein made it sound. At least, it isn’t where we’re from. It’s just how we do things. It’s our two-become-one. You get to pick your own mate, but your parents have a say in it, pretty much just like every other society that doesn’t do predestination or something like it.

“We’ve known each other for years, since we were still kids. And we decided before we finished school that we needed to be together forever. It was very romantic.” Despite the content of Matt’s words, he seemed stressed out. A little pissed-off. “You asked me if we could be mates under this blossoming tree. It was sappy. But I said yes because we were in love and I guess nobody could’ve guessed how it would turn out.

“And, like, traditionally, back in the day, it used to be like the way Vein and Veina do it. Like, you used to have to buy your mate and all kinds of shit. Like, it was gross and awful. But that changed. Because we aren’t animals,” Matt gestured with a spoon he’d procured from...somewhere. Justin wasn’t sure. “I guess, in a classical sense, I belong to you. Legally and shit. All that shit. But, you know, it’s not really about that. Like I said before, it’s about romance and promises. Unity.”

Matt was doing something in the sink, water still running, with the thing he’d pulled from the fridge. “And since I was smaller than you, like, physically, we decided that I would be the mate. Like, the little one. The one who gets protected. And you got to be my protector. Basically, I was supposed to stay home and take care of the house, and you were supposed to go out, make money, provide and protect.” Matt was arms-deep in the sink. “It’s, like, this ancient, old-timey shit. The roles of the household and all that. But, you know, as I said earlier, nobody really cares about that shit except for A, people who don’t get it, and B, old people. Traditionalists, too, but they’re a goddamn cult, so it doesn’t matter so much what they think.”

Matt pulled a mangle of pink something out of the sink and put it right down on the countertop, briefly rinsing his hands at the sink before shutting off the water. Justin watched the guy find a knife and a plate and stop talking for a moment to ponder the thing, probably about how he was going to cut it up. Then, he went to work and continued his explanation. 

“We left home because we were crazy and you felt stifled by the environment and wanted to branch out and we were already together, so I had to go with you, even though I didn’t really want to. We got a ride on an outgoing ship to a port not far from here and found out that the rest of the universe wasn’t like Peace. We were two stranded kids and we didn’t fucking know what the fuck we were doing. And it almost got us killed a couple of times.

“As I told you a while ago, when you’d first woken up, you let some science people do some tests on you, the effects of whatever on the whatever, something to do with your internal organs. And I was hooking. That was how we made money. You’d come home with your intestines in a bag, out of your mind with pain, and I’d come home with a thousand people’s different reproductive sludges inside of me. And we’d each have a wad of cash and we’d decide if we had enough stamina to not eat for another day and then we’d get a room for the night and crash.

“Finally,” Matt said, hacking away at the tendrils coming from the pink thing, “you decided you were done being dissected and you clobbered the shit out of the guy with whom I was getting busy. It was a mixture of the pain pills, the pain, and the fact that your mate was doing another guy in the bed you were supposed to share, later.” Justin watched one of the spidery roots wrap its way around Matt’s arm. Matt did nothing, just kept talking. “And then we had a body to deal with. So we left it there and skipped town.

“And it was different than we were used to. The next port we got stuck on was this crazy place, the lowest of the lows were there, we were forced to fall back on the old ways to get through the day without harassment. Which meant, like, I had to grow my hair out and you had to put your mark on me, which, we used necklaces, but you hated it. And after you ran out of ideas, we had to go back to me hooking for cash and you selling your body in another way. Only this time it went bad.”

Matt disentangled himself from the pink thing and went back to cutting off all of the roots. That was what Justin was calling them. Roots. “We had to leave town again, so we tried to stow away on a ship, but we got caught. And they sold us to Vein so we could repay our debt.” Matt looked up at Justin, they locked eyes. “This is where it gets important. Because you promised me to Vein. Don’t think that’s slipped my mind.”

Justin shook his head. “I wouldn’t have forgotten.”

“We worked for him for a long time. And you were his hitman. Ripper. You would rip these guys to fucking shreds. You’d laser them to death and shit, and you’d rip through every stitch of fabric in the place. And he would pay you to steal shit for him.” Matt hacked away at one unruly root. “And I would dance for his friends. He’d have me strip down and get naked and dance on this rotating pole for his club-goers. And, I don’t know, sex isn’t as important to us as a race as it is to other groups. Virginity isn’t a thing. The big thing for us is who you make promises to. Who you share your bed with. And for some of us, having sex isn’t even a thing. It’s a little nuance. Not important. So neither of us were pleased with the hooking and the dancing, but it wasn’t like if, say, Veina got up on the platform and got naked. That would be a big deal.” He sighed. “The point is, as much as it wasn’t a big deal for me to be naked in front of people who cared deeply that I undulate and gyrate and all the other words that get people off, it was still humiliating.”

Justin frowned, helplessly. “Fuck.”

“I’ve gotten older, though, and less sexy. And stiff. So, you know, hopefully you can go back to murder for hire and I can find a new job.” 

Matt ignored Justin’s sincere apology. 

“It’s fine,” he promised. “The fat fuck will see me naked and gag, it’ll be fine.”

Justin looked down at his lap. He felt bad. There hadn’t been anything he could’ve done to prevent this, he understood that, but he still felt guilty for getting this man in front of him, whom he definitely loved--though more like a brother than anything--into such a mess. For the second time. This was what failure felt like. Dark, black, and poisonous. 

“Matt?”

Matt didn’t look up. “Yes?”

Justin watched him wrangle the tendrils into a metal bowl. “When you said sex wasn’t important, did you mean that we don’t ever have sex?”

Matt laughed out loud, so hard that he had to take his hands off of the roots in the bowl. A few pieces escaped. “God, Justin. No, we definitely had sex. It just isn’t sacred to us. We don’t treat it like some other cultures do.” There was a large rack hanging from the ceiling, and it had pots, pans, and lids on it. Matt snagged a lid and put it over the bowl. “I never had to fucking kill anyone until we got on that ship with Vanity. They scooped us up after we finished our service with Vein. Offered us money and food and a place to stay and we had a reputation for being crazy as fuck and also discreet as fuck. 

“The captain was mostly a mover. We put together these elaborate heists and they’d send you in to destroy anyone who could've seen what we were doing, and then they sent me in with a team who would get the stuff and get out of there.” Matt put the bowl to the side and went to the sink to wash his hands. The roots had left pink residue on him. “But, you know, shit would go bad.” Matt’s voice got quiet and thoughtful. “I would end up having to murder people if you got shot and had to be carried away. And I didn’t like it, but it was how it was supposed to be. How it had to be. We had to survive.

“You were always talking about how wrong it was that I had to kill people. Like you were supposed to protect me from that shit. Which, you know, you were, but I didn’t hold it against you that you couldn’t. Like. We were kids, we had to do what we had to do.” Matt got a large pan and put it on the stove. “But you wanted out. And I think that’s probably why you, you know. Shot yourself in the head. Because you wanted out. And you got out. We both did.”

Justin was still looking at his lap. “But we’re going right back in. You’re gonna pole-dance in front of a bunch of horny aliens, and I’m going to have to kill people again.”

Matt found some oil and lubricated the pan with it. He turned on the stove and watched it. Neither man said anything for a long time. Justin watched Matt cook, putting the roots into the pan and stirring them with another spoon. He’d pause every few moments to sprinkle in some brightly-colored spice. Justin realized that he was very unhappy.

If he really had tried to kill himself because of the guilt of letting his partner down, his mate, he was letting them both down again, just by getting them into the situation all over again. It hurt, because he knew that, even if he didn’t remember it, and even if Matt didn’t seem upset, he was still supposed to protect his mate. And he was letting Matt down, big time.

Matt was setting the table when Justin finally found the words. “I don’t remember you, but I know that I love you. And I’m going to find a way to make this right. I promise.”


End file.
